The Brother I Barely Knew
by Wingleader Sora Jade
Summary: Luke and Mara's twins are now 17, but one of them has followed in his grandfather's footsteps. The other must find some former students of his parents' in order to reclaim his twin brother for the light.


The Brother I Barely Knew  
by WSJ  
  
Yes, I know Luke and Mara eventually had kids and the first born was a son named Ben, but Rosie and I conceived this idea a long time before we knew that, and I'm only now getting around to writing it all down.   
  
I don't own Star Wars, but I do own Zekk and Kyp Skywalker and Holly Skywalker, and my best friend Rosie owns Ari Johnson. I also own myself (Shawna) and Rosie owns herself. Our other friend Cassie owns herself. Their story can be found more completely in "Heros in Their Masters' Eyes" if I ever get around to finishing and posting it.  
  
()()()()()  
  
Seventeen-year-old Zekk Skywalker wandered down the streets of Corellia's capitol city, glancing every now and then at the slip of paper in his hand, on which was scribbled an address, and wondering if he'd ever find the right house. He stopped and leaned against a building, taking a rest and watching the people go by, stretching out as far as he could with the Force.  
  
He was the middle child born to Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, and had been named for a friend, his cousin Jaina's husband. His twin brother Kyp, also named for a good friend of his parents', had been born maybe two minutes before him, and his sister Holly about three and a half years after him.  
  
Zekk winced as he always did when thoughts of his childhood and brother invaded his mind, and he quickly surpressed the feelings acompanying them, shuddering as he did so. To distract his tired and weeping mind he stretched out farther in the Force, and with a snap found what, or rather who, he had been looking for.  
  
With a sigh he pushed himself off the wall and started toward the estate on the other side of the city. As passers-by began to give the cloaked and hooded stranger odd looks he let the hood drop from around his face, but pulled his cloak tighter as he did, careful not to let anyone see his dark Jedi robes or the lightsaber swinging from his belt.  
  
Two hours later he'd arrived, and saw a rather large house perched on the top of a hill overlooking the driveway up to the front door. He walked up and tapped cautiously, and was surprised when the door was opened almost immediately by a slender red-head who was shorter then him, despite looking at least ten or fifteen years older.  
  
What surprised him the most though was her manner of dress. Her long red hair had been tied back into a tight bun, although whisps of it were coming loose and falling into her face. She had on a white shirt with denim overalls on top, her glasses had slid part of the way down her nose, and there was a stripe of pink paint across one cheek. In fact, all of her, skin, clothes and hair was splattered with various colors and textures of paint. It was hard to miss the lightsaber at her belt though, even if it did have flecs of green and yellow paint on it.  
  
The woman grinned and was about to greet him when there was a commotion from a room that couldn't be seen from the entryway save the door. Zekk's hand flew to his lightsaber, although the red-head looked totally unconcerned. She turned to face the door and put her hands on her hips as two women the same age as the first burst through the door, one obviously chasing the other.  
  
The one chasing had shoulder-length dark blond hair pulled into a French braid, and a gleam in her icy eyes that made Zekk think she'd probably been a smuggler at some point in her life. She wore a black T-shirt under white overalls, and although the red-head at least had on sandels, this one went barefoot. She had a wide stripe of orange paint across her face that matched the hue on the paintbrush of the woman she was chasing. A lightsaber also dangled from her belt as she shouted angrily and waved a brush laden with purple paint at the other woman, spraying droplets in the direction of Zekk and the red-head as she did.  
  
The woman being chased had long light blond hair in a high ponytail, her green eyes sparkling mischeiviously as she laughed and launched taunts at the woman she had apparently just swiped in the face with the orange paintbrush she carried. She had on a light blue blouse with denim jeans and a green-striped smock overtop, and she had on sandles like her red-haired friend. A lightsaber bounced from that belt too.  
  
As the two women ran through the entry hall and toward the other rooms farther back, the red-head sighed and shook her head, turning back to Zekk. "I'm sorry." she said. "They're always like this. *Always*. We're doing some house redecorating, which accounts for the mess and the paint." She whiped off a hand on her overalls and held it out to him. "I'm Rosie, Jedi Knight. What brings you here? We don't often get visitors, not even Jedi. Especially not Jedi. No one's supposed to know we're here."  
  
Zekk realized with a start that this whole time she had been gently probing his mind and was about to answer when from somewhere deeper in the house there was a shreik and the snap-hiss of a lightsaber clicking on. "Aw great, not again!" Rosie said and started toward the sound as Zekk ran to catch up. "This is why we had to redecorate, last time it was a blaster fight and they had scorch marks all over the walls. At least this time they're sencible enough to use lightsabers." Rosie explained over her shoulder as they ran. A second snap-hiss was heard as they entered the kitchen to see the two blond women facing off, the one with the ponytail smirking as she held up her amber blade and the one with the braid scowling feircely as she readied her own deep blue one.   
  
Rosie didn't hesitate but strode right out into the middle of the battlefield, raising her own purple lightsaber so it stood between the other two. "Ok you two CUT IT OUT!!!!!!!!!! Can't you see we have a visitor?"  
  
The two blinked and looked up, seemingly noticing Zekk for the first time, who had been hoping to sneak out while the nutcases were busy. Drat, no such luck. The one with the amber blade instantly grinned and disengeged her lightsaber, hooking it back onto her belt. Rosie did the same and after a warning look from her, so did the last woman, with only minimal grumblings. Surprisingly enough, she was the first to hold her hand out to Zekk in greeting.  
  
"Hullo." she said cheerfully. "I'm Shawna, smuggler and part-time Jedi Knight." The other two shot her a glare and she shot one of her own in return. "What? It's true!"  
  
The last woman rolled her eyes and intoduced herself. "I'm Cassie, Jedi Knight. What's the trouble that would bring Luke's kid way out here?"  
  
The other two shot her a look of disbelief and then slowly turned to look at Zekk. "Shavith." Shawna cursed softly. "It is Mara's brat. They were just li'l shavin's when we had to leave."  
  
Rosie groaned at the bad joke (private joke, I'll explain at the bottem) before one again fixing Zekk under her scruteny. "If Luke and Mara sent him way out here, it must be really bad."  
  
Cassie blinked. "Without his brother no less. I must confess, I can't tell which you are." she said a bit guiltily.  
  
"I'm Zekk." Zekk said, surpressing another wave of emotions at the thought and mention of his twin. "And Kyp is part of the reason dad sent me out here."  
  
Shawna frowned in dismay. "Oh dear..."  
  
"What?" the other two asked almost in tandem.  
  
"I think Kyp's followed his Grandfather Anakin." she said quietly, saddness evedent on her face.  
  
Zekk looked up. "How did you know?"  
  
Shawna smiled saddly, and seemed to be gazing over his head into another time and place none of the rest of them could see. "I know. I was a Dark Sider myself for awhile..." She seemed to shake herself from a trance and motioned for everyone to sit down around the kitchen table. "But you didn't come to hear of our tragic past, tell us your tale."  
  
So Zekk took a deep breath and began.  
  
()()()()()  
  
-_-;; Rather short, I know... About the private joke, our school's putting on the play "Boogie Woogie Bugle Girls" this year and Rosie's playing Peggy, one of the hillbillys who turns out to be a Nazi spy. In one scene her dad Leo calls her Li'l Shavin' and she gets mad about it, so now our friend Greg and I tease her by calling her that.  
  
Next Chapter: Zekk tells why he was sent to talk to the girls, and Shawna remembers a Force-sensitive friend of hers whom she'd been meaning to send to Luke for training, and sends her to Zekk instead. 


End file.
